Liquid fueled rockets have better specific impulse (Isp) than solid rockets and are capable of being throttled, shut down and restarted. The primary performance advantage of liquid propellants is the oxidizer. The art of chemical rocket propulsion makes use of controlled release of chemically reacted or un-reacted fluids to achieve thrust in a desired direction. The thrust acts to change a body's linear or angular momentum. There are multiple methods for using liquid propellants to achieve thrust.
A monopropellant is a single fluid that serves as both a fuel and an oxidizer. Upon ignition of a monopropellant, a chemical reaction will occur yielding a mixture of hot gases. The ignition of a monopropellant can be induced with use of an appropriate catalyst, introduction of a high energy spark, or raising a localized volume beyond the reaction's activation energy. Monopropellant ignition causes an exothermic chemical reaction whereby the monopropellant is converted into hot exhaust products. A common example of a monopropellant is hydrazine, often used in spacecraft attitude control jets. Another example is HAN (hydroxyl ammonium nitrate). Another form of propellant is a bipropellant, which consists of two substances: a fuel and an oxidizer. Bipropellants are commonly used in liquid-propellant rocket engines. There are many examples of bipropellants, including RP-1 (a kerosene-containing mixture) and liquid oxygen (used in the Atlas rocket family) and liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen (used in the Space Shuttle).
Chemically reacting monopropellants and pre-mixed bipropellants liberate chemical energy through thermal decomposition and/or combustion. This chemical energy release is initiated by a mechanism deposed within the combustion chamber (i.e., the chamber where a majority of chemical energy release occurs). Commonly, the initiation mechanism is incorporated in the vicinity of a combustion chamber's propellant injector head. The design and manufacture of a propellant injector head used in a combustion chamber is important to achieve effective and safe operation of the rocket thruster. If the design is not correct, flame can propagate back past the propellant injector head and into the propellant storage tank (known as flashback) causing a catastrophic system failure (i.e., an explosion).